Cologne
by anxiousgeek
Summary: 5 Avengers who are confused by Pepper Potts wearing Tony's cologne and 1 who totally gets it. Pepper/Tony, Pepper/Natasha. Mentions Pepper/Steve, Tony/Steve, Thor/Jane. Pepper power play.


Pepper smelt like him.

She smells like him, of his cologne, his $2000 a bottle Clive Christian Number One. The one that is all of him, all harsh masculinity with a sweet undertone. His cologne that hides all of Pepper's own scent, which is a little clean, a little soft and something unnerving that calls to him. It doesn't make sense. Her own usual scent. Masking it with his ridiculously expensive cologne for a day she spent in the tower wearing casual slacks and watching movies.

She smells like him and it always gets his attention and he wonders if that's why she wears it. But then, he's not always around when she does it. He returns from trips and missions to the lingering smell of him in the air but washed from her body and he wasn't even there. He doesn't get it.

He doesn't know how to broach the subject.

She puts it on in front of him, when he's watching her dress in tight jeans and a loose t-shirt, spraying it liberally over her clean skin. She never says a word about it. Never even indicates she's doing it, picking it up his cologne from their shared (but organised) group of bottles until the scent hits him. Some mornings he wrestles her out of her clothes and back into bed. Some mornings he lets her go.

He wonders if he should start wearing one of her perfumes. If maybe that's what she wants but he can't quite find the one that defines Potts like his cologne defines him. She doesn't wear it much. She always just smells clean.

Pure.

In his cologne she smells wrong, dirty, it's a hell of a turn on. Like most things she does, so it's not like she needs to try. And then, why is she wearing it to turn him on when he's not even there. It makes no sense, none of it. So, in the end, he's just confused and aroused.

Eventually, he knows he'll ask her about it but something continues to hold him back for the longest time.

x

She smelt like him

Pepper smells like Tony and and it's confusing the hell out of Steve. Scaring the hell out of him.

He'd always thought Pepper beautiful, found her attractive and had come to associate this sweet strong smell with her. At least on her days off and he'd thought nothing of it. She smelt wonderful, looked stunning and he – he was attracted to her.

He didn't have a problem with that.

Pepper was the love of Tony Stark's life and Pepper loved him in return. His own physical feelings weren't particularly important and he didn't particularly want to act on them any more than he wanted to act on any other attractions he had. It was passing, it didn't linger.

She smelt like this slightly masculine cologne on her her days off and Tony – Tony always smelt like metal and sweat. Or the harsh soap he used to get rid of the grease on his skin.

He didn't notice Tony smelling like the cologne until they were going out on night. Dressed up in a long black dress Pepper smelt clean, and something a little floral and Tony smelt of the sweet strong scent he'd come to associate with Pepper's days off. When he asked Tony about it, he said it was his cologne, his painfully expensive _number-one-Clive-something_ cologne. His cologne. His scent.

Pepper smelt like him.

Which was fine except he found it all the more attractive on Stark.

Found Stark more attractive.

He definitely wasn't the first man he had found attractive, definitely not the only man he found attractive but the way he felt was more than a little shocking. It was confusing too, that dual attraction to both him and Pepper that he felt so keenly and stronger than anything else he'd felt in the longest time.

Steve had never really analysed his own sexuality before. Before he was frozen, everything was just a matter of opportunity – man or woman. Before the serum there had been no opportunities, just passing attractions to people who didn't look at him twice. Or at all. He'd not known about bisexuality, hadn't even learnt about the word until just recently. He'd buried those feelings back down in the ice but here was Stark walking around looking and smelling like heaven.

It was probably time to explore a little.

x

She smelt like him.

Pepper smelt like Tony and when he rounded a corner and collided with her instead of him, he sent her flying to the floor. He had been expecting Tony, had thought the man would come barrelling around without looking or thinking like he always did. He expected Tony and had thought he'd moved to the side, but that just meant he walked right into Pepper Potts who was reading a tablet as she walked and landed on the floor with an _oompf_.

Clint had a good nose as well as good eyes. Not quite as good, but better than most and well enough that he could pick up everything's scent if his eyes were closed. He could always smell something – someone – and while it wasn't always pleasant it gave him a bit of an extra advantage Both in the field and in the tower.

He didn't live there like Bruce, he wasn't helping Natasha train Pepper, or friends with the women like Steve was. He liked hanging out, used the gym facilities and there was certainly enough work that needed the Avengers touch; he just wasn't there all the time.

So he didn't know.

So when her rounded that corner and bumped into Pepper Potts, he was surprised and lifted her up off the floor with ease, making her squeal ever so slightly. He was also really, really confused.

Pepper had simply smiled at him, even after he had lifted Pepper off the floor and had walked away.

Which just added to his confusion.

For a while after that it didn't happen again. Pepper smelt clean and crisp, Tony smelt oddly harsh and sweet and it's always them when they walk into the room.

Except it isn't again, and it's Pepper who walks in freshly showered but that crystal clean smell masked under that more masculine sweeter tone that really confused him when she walked in and Tony didn't.

It was unexpected.

He didn't like that the tower could be confusing and unexpected. It was unsettling and he got enough of that from the other women in his life – he didn't need Pepper Potts adding to it, walking around smelling of Tony Stark.

Everyone else seemed to be used to it though. Natasha never reacted, Steve just looked a little flustered and he figured that was just his crush on the redhead. Bruce seemed to avoid her on those days though, couldn't be found in his apartment of his lab, or even the tower. Clint didn't know where he went, Jarvis never asked, just recorded the event and he was never around to ask.

Tony didn't talk about it. Brushed him off with a hint of a blush that told Clint more than he really wanted to know. He knew it wasn't just for him though; Pepper wore it when the man wasn't around. Natasha had told him that and that was all she had told him, with that sly little smile he knew all too well.

Not that it helped Clint much when it came to figuring out who the hell was moving around the tower at any given time.

x

She smelt like him.

Pepper smelt like Tony once in a while and though he didn't care that much himself – he loved both Tony and Pepper – the Hulk hated it.

He liked Pepper – the other guy – thought Pepper pretty and frail and someone, something, he wanted to care for and protect rather than tear into little pieces.

However The Hulk didn't didn't like Tony much.

He didn't hate him, but the Hulk found the man very aggravating which was nothing Bruce couldn't deal with. He certainly understood how the other guy felt. It didn't bother him though, didn't effect him any more than any of the other annoyances n his current life. He could work easily with Tony and any time he spent with Pepper was relaxing.

As relaxing as having a giant green rage monster inside of him could be.

When she wore Tony's cologne though the irritation itched inside of him; hot and angry and green. The hulk couldn't differentiate between Pepper smelling like Tony and the man himself it seemed. Whenever she wore that scent it burned at him. Starting deep down and flaring up and around his body until he was sure he couldn't stop the Hulk from destroying the entire tower from the inside.

So when she smelt like Tony, when he couldn't quite handle himself around her, he disappeared.

He found over his years on the run people were usually the triggers. People he knew, people he interacted with.

Strangers were like background noise both he and the Hulk could filter out – did filter out. He spent a long time in Calcutta living alone barely interacting with people, treating patients quickly before moving on, hardly learning any names and it had been working, _God_ it been working so well.

So when Pepper smelt like Tony he went to Coney Island. Full of people, full of strangers he had minimal interaction with and he could be Bruce again – just a guy. He rode the Ferris wheel (Hulk liked heights), ate candy floss (he had a sweet tooth), played a few games (they both had terrible aim) but he was a long way away from Pepper and becoming the other guy.

Eventually he would have to talk to her about it, ask her to stop, or to warm him or something. For now though, he was going to ride the Ferris wheel again and eat his candy floss and forget about everything.

x

She smelt like him.

Pepper smelt like Tony and it confused him because of all the Midgard customs Jane and his new friends had taught him this had not been one of them. It had not been something he had noticed on other women he had encountered since he'd arrived on Earth for an extended stay.

He did not used cologne, did not have a scent other than his own natural smell that Jane could wear though she often commented on how he smelt. Like rain and metal. He wasn't sure he could transfer that to her though. Wasn't sure he even should.

When he asked Jane she laughed, bright and happy which always made him smile but didn't really answer his questions. She was not under any obligation to wear his scent, it was not an Earth custom and he in turn was not under any obligation to wear Jane's perfume. Though he was more than welcome to she had told him.

He didn't find the idea appealing though.

Nor did it answer his initial questions. Why did Pepper wear Tony cologne and why did it have such a profound effect on everyone? No one would talk about it, not even Tony himself; who he found he could rarely stop speaking – especially on the topic of Pepper Potts. The others were also quiet on the matter. The Captain often embarrassed, Barton grumpy and Dr Banner often no where to be found.

He found it very confusing and just a little enticing – for reasons he couldn't quite work out. He never really noticed how people smelt, even at their worst, he took in his surroundings but was more interested in enemies and weak spots and why so much of this city was covered in moving pictures. He found it fascinating but distracting.

Much like Pepper in Stark's cologne.

He would need to ask the woman herself and while he wasn't in any way intimidated by her – perhaps intimidated was the wrong word – he felt this was something personal, private and while Midgardians had strange and contradictory ideas about privacy – Pepper Potts did not.

x

She smelt like him.

Pepper smelt like Tony and Natasha loved it.

Not necessarily the scent itself she wasn't overly fond of it – even on Tony and Pepper's usual perfumes were much nicer. Subtler. Then there was nothing subtle about wearing the man's $2000 cologne.

She loved it. Loved the way the rest of her team became completely confused and quite distressed for various reasons as Pepper went about her day in pyjamas or tight jeans or those damn cut-off shorts and Tony's smell. She almost had them completely bent to her will. Natasha was impressed and she enjoyed the way superheroes and Gods were completely thrown off balance.

She totally understood it too. The reasons behind it all. Pepper could bend them to her will if she wanted to. She may have originally only intended to affect Tony but she was enjoying the effect she had on the others. The way she flushed a touch when Steve's nostrils flared and Clint bumped into her. The way Jarvis told her Bruce was out of the building and Thor looked so confused he might explode. Or at least ask. Except he didn't ask.

None of them asked.

She loved it, loved watching the woman thoroughly enjoy her days off in the tower.

None of the others talked about it, but Natasha did. She couldn't help herself.

"You're playing with fire," Natasha said, with a dangerous grin of her own. Pepper smiled back, leaning against the communal kitchen counter and not bothering with any act of innocence. "Don't stop."

Pepper chuckled and leaned forward to kiss her on the lips, brazen and soft. She had all the power now.

Natasha didn't care.


End file.
